The Orange Bond Initiative

On a mission to unlock US$10 billion by 2030 and empower ~100 million women and girls worldwide.

The Orange Bond Initiative™ (OBI) is a movement for a gender-equal future that aims to catalyze genderlens investing from strategy to action. By setting transparent standards for gender bonds and issuing transactions for a gender-equal financial system, the Initiative is developing a market for Orange Bonds, with orange being the color of SDG 5: Gender Equality, as a new asset class. IIX, along with the below multi-stakeholder Steering Committee, has utilized their expertise to create an Initiative by and for the Global South.

The Steering Committee drives gender equality through their individual work in the public sector, private sector, and civil society.

WLB5: The World’s First Orange Bond

In 2022, IIX issued the world’s first Orange Bond, the US$50 million fifth instalment in the Women’s Livelihood Bond™ (WLB™) Series, the WLB5. The WLB5 is a multi-continent, multi-sector bond that aims to positively impact 280,000-300,000 women and girls across Asia and Africa. Through close partnerships with 3 banks, 6 law firms, and 3 Development Finance Institutions, IIX orchestrated the highest capital raise of the WLB™ Series to date in trying macroeconomy.

2022 also witnessed the publication of the Orange Bond PrinciplesTM. The Principles enable issuers of all gender bonds to commit to truly impactful and transparent transactions. By requiring all issuers to measure, report, and verify impact with women at the last mile, the Principles value the voices of the receivers of capital and thus, proactively addressing the widespread impact washing in the sustainable finance ecosystem.

Hear from our Ecosystem Partners

Principle 1

The Orange Principles

Gender-positive capital allocation

Principle 2

Gender-lens capacity and diversity in leadership

Principle 3

Transparency in the investment process and reporting

“As the first Orange Bond in the market, the WLB5 will set the momentum for many Orange Bond transactions to come in the near future, making it a game changer for the sustainable financing market. IIX’s commitment to achieving meaningful impact and verifying results directly with women at the last mile makes the WLBTM Series the ‘gold standard’ in a market that is facing concerns over rising impact-washing.”

Stephen

M. Liberatore, Nuveen, Head of ESG/Impact - Fixed Income